Goodbye, Windows Vista

Over the past few months I’ve written a number of posts dealing how much I enjoy Windows Vista as well as some of the problems I’ve had running the latest operating system from Microsoft. But for the most part I like the way Vista looks and many of the small enhancements like photo management and search are a vast improvement over Windows XP. I’ve been recommending Vista to family and friends who own newer machines. Dang, I guess I’ve been a Vista cheerleader!

So tonight I’m bummed to admit that I decided to wipe Vista Ultimate off my home computer and go back to XP Pro like Chris Pirillo did a while back. He obviously knew something that I didn’t back then and it took me longer to find out. I can’t believe I fell for all the hype. I’d take my box of Vista Ultimate and toss it into Lake Washington if I could be assured it would wash up on the lawn belonging to Bill Gates. I really would.

Here are just a few of the problems I’ve been having with Vista:

1. Movie DVDs don’t play on my Sony DRU-530 drive under Vista – I never had a problem watching DVDs on XP. But Vista would say I didn’t have permission or just sit and spin and spin. One of the first DVDs I tried to watch (these are not ripped DVDs either) Vista told me that I would need to download a new driver from Nvidia that would “authorize” DRM’d content on my machine. WTH? Had it just been one or two DVDs I could probably live with it. But not being able to watch any DVDs on my computer just won’t fly.

2. Vista is a slow poke – When I first installed Vista, it didn’t feel much slower than XP. But once I installed 10-15 programs that I need, it really bogged down. I didn’t think too much of it until I sat down on my kids machine with 4 year old hardware running XP, and it ran faster than my new machine running Vista. Do not install Vista hoping your machine will run faster. All three machine I’ve installed Vista on now run slower than what they did while running XP.

3. Driver issues – I was still having problems with my HP OfficeJet 4215 and Logitech MX 900 mouse under Vista. My Apple iPod had troubles at first and then settled down. Even my Microsoft Live Cam didn’t work on Vista until I hunted down the correct drivers. I know this isn’t Microsoft fault, but it’s surprising that a large company like HP still hasn’t released drivers for some of printers. One needs a lot of patience to run Vista right now as you’ll be spending a lot of time searching for drivers that work under Vista.

4. Living in a Microsoft World – By running Vista, I felt like I was supporting the Microsoft monopoly. And not just supporting but promoting it. The first time you boot into Vista and try to do nearly anything you’ll be greeted with the dreaded User Access Control dialog box asking for permission to do even the simplest task. Luckily you can turn this crap off but you shouldn’t have to. You’ll be inundated with invitations to sign up for Microsoft Passport and reminded over and over why you should be running Windows Defender before something bad happens to you. And good luck trying to shut up Windows Media Player. It loves to show up and plaster itself off every menu available. The same can be said for Windows Live Messenger. If you run Vista you sign up to live in a world controlled by Microsoft.

5. Small annoyances – A number of smaller annoyances spoil the Vista experience. The start menu likes to disappear when you delete program icons or folders off it. Some Vista compatible programs crash for no reason. How come I can customize some areas but not others? Wallpaper handling/sizing is an exercise in frustration. Some Windows updates won’t install yet pester me to keep trying.

I cannot believe that going back to an operating system that’s over five years old feels like an upgrade, but it does. XP feels fast and stable. I’d kick myself in the butt if I could for assuming Vista was better. It’s not. At least right now it’s not, and it’s a shame Microsoft is charging up to $250 for Vista upgrades. Many people will drop good money assuming they will be getting a more productive operating system, yet all some will get are hours of frustration.

So I’m sorry if you bought Vista on my recommendation. I hope my experience has been one of the few bad ones. Maybe it’s running just fine on your machine. I hope that’s the case. But if you Windows XP computer is working well for you, my suggestion would be to keep Vista as far away as possible from it.